Last you all read, we were free-camping near Bluff Rock (just
south of Tenterfield) in a small dead-end rest area. Around 11pm that night there was quite a bit
of commotion coming from just outside our caravan. As it turned out, a massive truck had decided
to take a rest for the night in what was already a very crowded overnight rest
area. The truck pulled in and was
surrounded by caravans – and then had nowhere to go and nowhere to turn around. Josh of course came to the rescue and decided
to head outside and give this poor truckie a hand. As it was pitch black, Josh turned on our car
headlights and grabbed these bright torches that we have and went out and
started waving them around as if he was assisting in a plane take-off. After something like a 25 point turn this
truck had somehow managed to turn his lode around (and I got a late picture of
the event). He apologised to all the “vanners”
and headed back on his way out of there.
I felt pretty bad for this guy, he needed to pull in for a rest from his
long drive yet there was no room for him.
I wonder how these truckies feel about being taken over by grey nomads
and us younger travellers looking for cheaper accommodation?
The following morning we stayed at the rest stop and schooled
the kids up until lunch time and then packed the van and went into
Tenterfield. First stop was the
information centre and we grabbed some maps and figured out what we would do
for the remainder of the day. After a
short stroll down the road, we came to the Sir Henry Parkes School of Arts /
Museum. We paid for a tour of this small
building due to its significance in our lives.
It was there in that building in 1989, that Sir Henry Parkes made the
first public speech in relation to Australia becoming a Federation (which was
then further developed and later delivered in Melbourne). This tour was well worth our time and
hopefully the kids too will remember some of the information when they are
older. We grabbed a bite to eat, picked
up some groceries and called into the Tenterfield Saddler before jumping in the
car and driving past the oldest cork tree in Australia (dating back to 1861). Heading north from Tenterfield we stopped on
the side of a road at a place called Thunderbolt Hideout. This is a natural cave and bunching of large
boulders that was used by bushranger Captain Thunderbolt when he escaped from
Cockatoo Island where he was imprisoned for horse stealing. It’s a lovely place with a creek that runs
through nearby and the large smooth boulders are amazing shapes and sizes. Whilst here Josh fortunately checked how the
bike rack on the back of the van was going – not so good! The welding had worn and cracked and the bike
carrier was lacking a lot of strength and was no longer safe. We ended up having to pull the bikes off and
stand them inside the van for the rough road that was to come.
We kept on our track, headed to Boonoo Boonoo National Park
in hope to swim at the Boonoo Boonoo Falls.
Little did we know of its size and the amount of water running
downstream. There was no way that we
would be safe to swim here as the falls were over 200metres high in total and
the water was absolutely gushing along.
However, it was extremely pretty to view and as hard as we tried to
capture the beauty in our photos, they just don’t do it any justice. We headed back to the local campsite area and
set up the van with very few people in our sites. Fortunately, we did meet a pair of English
backpackers whom we sat and chatted to until we ran out of wine and any other
alcohol we could find (which was unfortunately very little compared to the
norm). They were lovely and just as
enthused about their travels here in Australia as what we were about ours.
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